A small group of far-right Hungarians formed a uniformed "guard" unit on Saturday amid calls by Jewish and Roma groups for it be banned, saying the body sported Nazi-era symbols.

Cheered by 1,000 people in front of the presidential palace, 56 men in uniforms with red and white insignia, associated by some with the regime which sent hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths, swore to defend Hungary.

The group was formed shortly before the first anniversary on September 17 of violent anti-government protests that followed the leak of a tape in which Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted he had lied to win elections.

"The Hungarian Guard has been set up in order to carry out the real change of regime (from communism) and to rescue Hungarians*," Gabor Vona, leader of the Jobbik party which set up the unit, told the rally.

The photograph presented in the Yahoo! piece is NOT a picture of the Magyar Guard (Hungarian Guard), but of the 'Nemseti Orseg' -- or the Nation Guard, and we should be at a loss as to why this discrepancy was not caught. In this editor's opinion it appears that defending a nation is much less 'threatening' to some than defending flesh and blood Hungarians. -- FR